What’s it like to jump from a 50-year-old media organization to a 5-year-old Web pub that describes itself as “scrappy”? I’m about to find out.

I’ve joined EdSurge as a senior editor, to help expand its coverage of higher education. Big challenges ahead, and I’m excited for that, though I’ll miss my colleagues at The Chronicle of Higher Education, who had become like family over the years.

Update: We’re still small, but we’re getting out there. A couple of my EdSurge articles have run in Slate—one on coding bootcamps and another on microcredentials. And I’m co-hosting our weekly podcast and a monthly video forum called EdSurge Live, in addition to writing news and feature articles.

Many people have an outdated view of teaching — believing that only high-level experts should teach at the college level or that only career teachers should offer instruction in schools. But teaching is now happening fast and informally online, and today anyone can teach using free tools to make courses. And a shadow learning economy has emerged online that students are increasingly turning to. Teaching is becoming a 21st century skill for all of us.

For-profit tutoring companies are targeting students with online ads these days, and the message is tempting. Why spend so long studying, the ads say, when paid tutors or study guides can help you get better grades with less work? One ad for Studypool, an Uber for tutoring that is one of many new for-profit study-help sites, shows a split screen of two photographs. On one side, a student sits in a library, under the caption “Didn’t ask Studypool”; on the other side, two students lie on the beach in bikinis, with the caption “Asked Studypool.” Students are buying it, sometimes paying hundreds of dollars a year in the search to better their grades.

We’ve just launched a new project at The Chronicle of Higher Education to track what we’re calling the New Education Landscape. Colleges are changing how they operate and how they teach, under pressure from lawmakers, parents, and students to respond to new economic realities. And new players are emerging—start-ups backed by record Silicon Valley investment, deep-pocketed foundations set on reform, and academic outsiders using platforms that let anyone teach courses.

I’m leading this ReLearning effort and writing a column for it — my first piece attempts to explain a big-data trend called “learning analytics” and explore how it might change the role of the professor. But the best part is that Re:Learning has a strong roster of other contributors, mainly ace Chronicle reporter Goldie Blumenstyk, as well as op-eds from key thought leaders.

We’re trying to make these pieces accessible and lively — inspired by NPR’s Planet Money. And we’re also trying to build a community of readers — hoping to be a digital hub for people at colleges as well as folks at ed-tech companies and foundations to talk to each other — and get past the hypers versus haters debates that often go on around these topics to talk about how to help real students succeed.

I presented at SXSWedu in Austin on the quiet rise of teaching marketplaces and what they mean for the future of education. This gave me a chance to share some fresh thoughts about how teaching is changing as market forces come to higher education in a new way. The Ithaka blog picked it up, as well as a blog mention here.

Sebastian Thrun wasn’t wearing pants when he recorded the intro video for his first free online course. | The academics who coined the term MOOC can’t stand the style of courses that the acronym is now applied to. | People have been claiming that technology would automate eduction for decades (largely without much success). Those are just a few of the many details I learned researching a short e-book about Massive Open Online Courses. It blends stories and analysis of how free blockbuster online courses could change colleges as we know them. It’s now available on Amazon, published by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

I focus on six basic questions:

* What Is a MOOC?
* Where Did MOOCs Come From?
* What Is the Business Model?
* Will MOOCs Change Campus Teaching?
* Why Do Some Educators Object to Free Courses?
* Do MOOCs Work?

I argue that MOOCs are not just another passing fad, but the free courses have touched off a battle over what the future of higher education should look like.

* Review by Sir John Daniel, author of Mega-Schools, Technology and Teachers: “his thoughtful commentary on the frenzied phenomenon of MOOCs remains highly relevant to decision makers grappling with its implications for their institutions.”

* Blog post by Langdon Winner: “An excellent, brief discussion of a variety of programs and projects in MOOC development currently underway. “

My latest assignment: Step back from daily deadlines to think more big-picture. I’m grateful for the chance to spend a year at Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow for journalism. My study plan is to look at MOOCs and the future of teaching and learning. Watch this space for updates…

I’m also serving as a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, a diverse gathering of folks exploring the development of cyberspace. If you’re in the Boston/Cambridge area, stop by the Berkman open house on Monday, Sept. 9.

The next wave of robots could change the meaning of work. I visited a robotics trade show in Chicago to meet some next-generation robots that have ignited a debate about whether automation threatens too many jobs today. This piece is part of a cover package in this week’s Chronicle Review on the New Industrial Revolution.